We Have So Much to Enjoy

Today is my 30th birthday and no, I'm actually not really freaking out about turning 30. I'm pretty happy with life right now and while turning 30 is kind of a big deal, I'm pretty okay with it. I would normally try to come up with some kind of birthday list to share, but I've had this post drafted and was just waiting for a good time to post and it seemed appropriate for today.

Jonathan and I fit well together for many reasons, but one of those reasons is that we are both planners. We do our fair share of living in and enjoying the moment, but we both naturally look toward the future and plan for it together. From the beginning, we talked a lot about what our future would look like - at least what we wanted it to look like. We knew early on that we'd be married one day and we talked a lot about starting a family together and all the things we wanted to do. Especially with Jonathan's business and his commitment to set us up well financially, we often find ourselves looking several years out at our lives. It's fun to plan and dream together. We've enjoyed the heck out of every stage together but we've still always talked and planned for the future with joy and excitement.

Having this trait in common is obviously such a good thing for us. I like to think our future thinking and planning ensures we are on the same page about things and when the time does come, we are ready emotionally, financially, logistically, etc. for whatever it is. One thing I'm always trying to be careful of, though, is that we don't focus so much on the future that we miss out on the sweetness and joy of the moment we're in.

Every now and then, when we have a lot of exciting things going on like weddings, trips, special events, fun plans, holidays, etc., one of us will always comment on how we have so much to look forward to. It's true...the anticipation of exciting things on our calendar is just fun. I've been trying to catch myself, though, and remind myself of this:

Life isn't all about those weekend trips to wherever. It's not just about the moving day, graduation day, wedding day, baby's arrival, etc. It's all those things mixed in with the weekends you do nothing in particular but you still stopped at one point and told each other how great a day that was. It's the day-to-day routine like 5 a.m. snuggles with your puppy in between the two of you that brings you a different kind of joy and peace. Believe it or not, it's even the painful times when your hearts were broken and as you brushed your teeth before bed one night, your husband put on Taylor Swift and forced you to dance with him because he knew it would cheer you up. It's not just looking forward to baby's arrival, but soaking in the moment when you're 6 months pregnant, tired and sore and your husband rubs cocoa butter on your pregnant belly and puts his ear to it so he can listen to your baby girl's heartbeat. It's the details of our days that we don't even notice because they are so common or ordinary but when we stop to soak it in we realize absolutely blessed we are.

I love dreaming and planning for the future with my husband. I love the excitement and giddiness I feel every Tuesday when we're another week closer to welcoming our baby girl into the world. I love looking forward to all the joyous occasions we get to enjoy in this life.

I just want to make sure I don't let the special time in between those big occasions slip by because I was too focused on what was to come. We absolutely have so much to look forward to, but good Lord, we have so very much to enjoy.